Chapter 198: Another Battle

There was no way to immediately restrain Ha Do-gwang, and since the Cult Leader’s body hadn’t fully recovered yet, the meeting ended quicker than expected.

After the meeting ended—

The Cult Leader of the Five Elements Cult tried to offer a reward, but Jang Woo-hyun didn’t particularly need anything, so he didn’t make any requests.

Nevertheless, the Five Elements Cult insisted on giving him something, so Jang Woo-hyun had no choice but to ask his companions if they needed anything.

“If you’ve got any useful materials, I’d like to get my hands on them.”

In the end, Cho-su stated what he needed, and the Five Elements Cult willingly prepared everything he asked for.

Cho-su used the materials provided by the Five Elements Cult to craft Dharma Treasures and Dharma Tools, modifying the Floating Stronghold in the process.

Meanwhile, Jang Woo-hyun returned to the Floating Stronghold and took out the items given to him by the Five Wheel Guardian Spirit from his Storage Artifact.

A bead that looked like it was made of earth, a feather made of flame, a beast’s fang forged from some unknown metal, a horn made of wood and vines, and a scale astonishingly made of water.

Each one was a wondrous item.

“Monkey, are these Natural Energies condensed together?”

“You could say that. Judging by their aura, they’re not ordinary things.”

Each item given by the five Elemental Spirits held the energy of one of the Five Elements. The power they radiated was enough to consider them Spiritual Medicines.

“They’d be especially good for someone who handles the Five Elements’ Qi, but even for ordinary martial artists, they’d be valuable. Think of them as spiritual elixirs. Absorbing them won’t be easy—but you should have no problem, since you’ve even tried absorbing Elemental Spirits directly.”

Even thinking about it again made the Wind-Passing Great Sage snicker.

“And you’re one to talk, munching on Thunderbolts.”

Fiddling with the items in his hands, Jang Woo-hyun decided to try using them.

‘I’m not eating them. Let’s go with just absorption for now.’

Out of habit, Jang Woo-hyun sat cross-legged. He held the fang and the scale in his left hand, and the other three in his right.

He breathed slowly, feeling the energy within the items. There was no urgency, so he didn’t use the Giant’s Breathing Technique.

He exhaled and inhaled in a steady rhythm. The breath continued without interruption.

One moment passed, then half a si-jin. One si-jin. Two si-jin.

As time went on, the five items in his hands began to float in the air, each radiating energy as they orbited around Jang Woo-hyun.

Before long, Jang Woo-hyun’s body also floated slightly above the ground.

The Five Elements’ energies circling him began to spin faster, and the emitted light grew brighter.

Red, blue, black, white, and yellow. His body became enveloped in five colors of light, and his form began to blur.

Watching Jang Woo-hyun without leaving—because he was sure the brat was up to something—the Wind-Passing Great Sage scrunched his face.

“What the hell is this?”

The Wind-Passing Great Sage, tongue clicking at the sight of Jang Woo-hyun constantly doing strange things, stretched out his hand.

Within his continuing breath, Jang Woo-hyun felt the energy of the Five Elements.

Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood. He sensed each element one by one until eventually, they enveloped him.

At a certain moment—

Jang Woo-hyun thought, My body is floating. It was a sensation similar to when he was about to Ascend.

The difference this time was that his body wasn’t rising—only his consciousness seemed to soar.

He flew upward unhindered.

He could look down on everything, and feel everything.

The blowing wind, the countless Floating Islands and Floating Continents suspended in the air, the warmth of sunlight, the mountains and fields atop the Floating Continents, even the trees and grass—

Jang Woo-hyun felt as though he had become one with the world.

A relaxed, joyful sensation. Yet at the same time, a strange feeling crept in.

What is this?

Was it a new realm? Or something he felt from absorbing the Five Elements’ energies? He couldn’t tell for sure.

While observing everything, Jang Woo-hyun turned toward a presence he sensed far off.

Ugh.

Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe.

Something ominous. A colossal presence.

It was condensed power. If that force were unleashed, it could destroy the world.

It was far away, yet its presence was unmistakable.

Sensing a trace of movement in that direction, Jang Woo-hyun instinctively turned his head away. He felt that reacting to that energy would be dangerous.

When he turned in another direction, he heard a voice calling him. He felt as though someone was coming toward him.

He tried to ascend even higher to hear the voice. He wanted to see farther, know more.

Eventually, Jang Woo-hyun’s consciousness passed through the sky and arrived at a world filled with blinding white light. For a moment, his awareness faded, and it felt as if his body melted—yet it wasn’t unpleasant. He felt completely at one with the world.

At that moment, someone grabbed the back of Jang Woo-hyun’s neck.

His mind, which had soared into the sky, plummeted—returning him from the dreamlike illusion back to reality.

“Uwah!”

The sense of unity with the world shattered completely.

“What the hell are you doing?”

What followed was the annoyed voice of the Wind-Passing Great Sage.

“Whoa, damn it. Don’t just touch me like that. Huh? I guess you’re a Monster, so you wouldn’t know. Monkey, you’re not supposed to touch a martial artist during moments like that.”

“Cut the crap. What the hell were you doing? That was dangerous just now.”

“Dangerous? Me?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t just the Elemental Spirits—your entire presence nearly scattered. What the hell did you do?”

Jang Woo-hyun told him what he had felt—his consciousness rising to the skies, the feeling of becoming one with the world.

“I knew it. That was dangerous.”

“What was so dangerous about it?”

“You almost became one with the world. The existence known as Jang Woo-hyun nearly scattered. You almost truly merged with the world. Melted into it.”

“What?”

Jang Woo-hyun, not quite understanding, asked again.

“Was it too much power? Ah—maybe it’s because you were the one using it.”

The items given by the Guardian Spirits of the Five Elements were indeed exceptional—but the problem was also with the person named Jang Woo-hyun.

“Explain it so I can understand.”

“You almost became one with natural energy itself. The human named Jang Woo-hyun almost turned into Natural Energy.”

“Then what happens?”

“What do you mean what happens? You’d just disappear. Your existence would vanish. You’d become part of the world.”

Only now did Jang Woo-hyun understand his earlier situation. Because he was merging with the world, he could feel and see everything.

“So, was that a trap? Did the Elemental Spirits deceive me?”

“Deceive you? Nah—they didn’t do anything. It’s just that you’re weird. Still, don’t use those again carelessly. At least not in your current state. Either that, or find another way to use them.”

“Another way?”

“There’s the Nation of Mechanical Marvels, right? They should be able to make something with those.”

Though the Wind-Passing Great Sage kindly explained, Jang Woo-hyun shook his head.

“I’ll think about that later. First, I need to meet them again.”

“Who?”

“The Five Wheel Guardian Spirits. I’ll go to the ones who gave them to me and either ask them to make them properly usable or ask how to use them.”

At the sight of him striding off like he was going to retrieve a deposit, the Wind-Passing Great Sage burst into laughter once more.

Leaving the Great Sage behind, Jang Woo-hyun set off to meet the Five Wheel Guardian Spirits.

* * *

At the center of the continent where the Five Elements Cult was based—

There stood a massive mountain, and at its peak resided the Five Wheel Guardian Spirit.

“What is this thing?”

Upon reaching the summit, Jang Woo-hyun approached the Five Wheel Guardian Spirit, who stood tall like a tree rooted into the rocky mountain.

“This thing—can I actually use it?”

At Jang Woo-hyun’s question, the Five Wheel Guardian Spirit flinched and stepped back.

【Realm Ascension. It helps.】

Some time had passed, and the Guardian Spirit’s communication had slightly improved compared to before.

“It helps in ascending to the next realm?”

The Guardian Spirit nodded.

“How exactly does it help?”

【Not now. Next realm. It helps.】

“So it helps when I reach the next realm? Then I shouldn’t absorb it right now?”

【Direct absorption? No good.】

“Uh… so I wasn’t supposed to absorb it?”

The Guardian Spirit nodded vigorously.

“You should’ve explained that when giving it to me. So I just have to be careful about that? Nothing else?”

【Completion exists. Small space. Domain.】

This time, the words were hard to understand, and Jang Woo-hyun furrowed his brow.

“I don’t get what you’re saying.”

【Five Energies. All energies. Small world. Complete.】

Thinking over the Guardian Spirit’s words, Jang Woo-hyun tried to piece together the meaning.

“Since the Five Elements are the fundamental energies, are you saying I can use this to create a small domain? Is that right?”

Nod, nod.

“So I shouldn’t absorb it right away, but it could help with ascending later, and I can make a small domain with it. Hey, you should’ve told me all this in advance. Don’t others teach you to explain things? Ah, right—they probably don’t.”

Now that he thought about it, there was no one who would teach such a being.

The mysterious humanoid figure glowing faintly before his eyes wasn’t a real god, but it was a being revered as the Guardian Spirit of the Five Elements Cult. Who in the world would dare to teach a being like that?

It was only because Jang Woo-hyun didn’t belong to the Five Elements Cult and was constantly in pain that he behaved this way—no one else would ever treat a Guardian Spirit like this.

“Next time you give someone something like this, make sure to explain how to use it. Got it? But hey, where are you looking while I’m talking to you?”

Its face was smooth like an eggshell with only a mouth, so there were no visible eyes—but Jang Woo-hyun could tell the Guardian Spirit was looking somewhere far away, not at him.

He turned his head in the same direction, but all he saw was clear sky and a distant floating island.

“What are you looking at? Do you actually see something?”

【It’s coming.】

“What is?”

【Careful. Careful. I guard this place.】

“Wait—what’s coming?”

【A strong one.】

“Strong? Who?”

【The strongest. Can’t win.】

The Guardian Spirit turned its head briefly toward Jang Woo-hyun, then looked back into the void.

【No one.】

Even when Jang Woo-hyun continued to question and call out, the Guardian Spirit only kept repeating the same words.

Suragwi—Yang Jeon-gun.

He was infamous among the cultivators for collecting all things—Dharma Tools, Dharma Treasures, humans, and monsters alike.

After a chance encounter with Jang Woo-hyun, Yang Jeon-gun followed his trail and ended up in the Central Heavens Martial Realm.

Thanks to the death of the Sword Heaven Lord, the protector of the Martial Realm, Yang Jeon-gun believed this hunt would be easily accomplished. After all, there should be no one in the Martial Realm strong enough to stop him.

However, his plans fell apart right from the start when the Taecheong Divine Sovereign took that seat.

‘I should’ve turned back then.’

Still determined to capture Jang Woo-hyun, Yang Jeon-gun lurked at the Martial Realm’s borders—until he met the worst possible outcome.

‘I was foolish.’

His face crushed, and limbs torn off one by one, Yang Jeon-gun fled deep into his fortress. His once madness-filled eyes were now soaked in fear.

BOOOM!

With a deafening explosion, the fortress’s defensive formation and outer wall—capable of withstanding dozens of high-level cultivator attacks—shattered in an instant.

Through the gaping hole, someone slowly descended.

A tall man with long black hair. His face, oddly youthful for his height, resembled that of a boy.

But his most striking feature was his eyes.

They looked down on everything—as if the world itself were beneath him.

That gaze didn’t suit his youthful face at all, giving off a disturbingly uncanny aura.

Meeting that gaze, Yang Jeon-gun clenched his fists as hard as he could to stop himself from trembling.

A monster.

Even Yang Jeon-gun—an infamous figure in his own right—could only label this man that way.

Though not a martial artist himself, Yang Jeon-gun had some knowledge about the powerful figures of the Central Heavens Martial Realm.

The Six Heavens.

The six supreme masters of the Central Heavens Martial Realm, known as the heavens themselves.

The man before him was one of them.

The pinnacle of all Demonic Practitioners.

The sovereign of the Demonic Path.

The strongest in the Demonic Way—Demon Heaven Lord, First Heavenly Demon, Muk Geom-yeong.

Yang Jeon-gun, who came to the Central Heavens Martial Realm for a hunt, had now become the prey.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep